Again Im not trying to defend the entire article but some facts need laid out before people jump down the well yelling fire.
Has anyone posting here played Darkfall or seen an actual playable version? Not video clips and not screen shots as people saw those from the DnL team and all were very misleading and false.
If the folks from Darkfall got a call tomorrow buying them out and the game stopped as is then it would fall under the same title as Dragon Empires and other titles put through development and then canceled. Until such time as it is either released or stopped it is actually nothing.
Face the facts folks, there have been some very nice games started but then never finished. I was in the initial testing for Dragon Empires and saw what happens. Many games just can not live up to either the developers or the customers expectations and is closed down prior to any form of release. Even ones that do release, as in the case of DnL, can be classified as vaporware because the advertising for it was completely different than what people actually got. The money spent on it by investors and pre-orders did nothing to change this and still has not. It is for all intents and purposes vaporware.
He did not do very much research, I give you that, but there are some valid points he does make in his article that is being over looked because people like a certain game and can not see past the end of their own noses.
The online game market takes up about 7% of the total computer game industry. (I could be off but I think this is close to the mark). With that said it becomes a matter of being able to get a game out and get it out well. WoW had backing because of the following, DarkFall does not have close to the community base as far as size goes. Unless it grows or unless Darkfall has some drastic changes and upgrades of existing tools, software, etc then odds are very likely by the past track records of other independent developers that this game goes down prior to launch. This may be harsh but if one views the history of the online game market since say the mid 90's then it only stands to reason.
The above can be said for Hero's Journey, Thrones of Chaos, Fallen Earth, Trials of Ascension and a host of other games.
He did make a point even if he used the wrong examples in a couple of cases. The point should not be wasted because people are in love with something that does not really exist yet.
Nothing against your post.. of course, any mmorpg before release could be vaporware. But that is the point, it could be.
If there are no real facts, or no real hints, it is just a guess and even more slander of the development team and the product.
It is almost the same if i would say WAR is vaporware, because Imperator(Mythic) was vaporware, and because EA has a big histroy for vaporware, so it is just logical that a product form EAMythic have to be vaporware. But nevertheless, it would be just a bad guess and more or less slander of EAMythic, and it is absolutely without any back up.. and because of that it should not be a part of a article of a serios mmorpg information site. And the same is true for more or less the complete article here.
But all this is not really important, but what is about a game like Mount&Blade? Everyone can test and play it now, and even more it is not a mmorpg, it is a solo player game from a independent and small development team and it is fun to play. And it is everything else, but in no way vaporware.
This complete article is more or less a prejudgment of small independent development teams and even more without any facts, without any research and without any back up.
Apparently, a lot of people are confusing games that are simply in development with vaporware. If your definition is "until i can play it, it is vaporware", then you've just labelled all games in development as vaporware.
Is Star Trek Online vaporware ?
Is the Firefly MMO vaporware ?
Is Stargate Online vaporware ?
IMO you can only label a game as vaporware if it's been in development with no visible progress for a long period of time. The "no visible progress" condition is particularly important, because as games are becoming more and more complex and players expectations rise, development times increases; and some of the major, AAA, well-funded games ( HL2 anyone ? ) can take more than 4 years of development. Are you going to blame a smaller developer for being slower ?
Games that are in development are not vaporware. They're simply that.. in development.
Good article, however I would take some time to point out that there should be a difference between companies who simply do not complete projects (Ture Vaporware). And companies who take a good amount of time to complete a polished product.
Just because the idea isn't from the drawing board to the shelves in 2-3 years it doesn't mean it not going to be released!
"I would also throw all these "item mall" korean games into the vaporware category. They are very shallow games that just try to scam players into buying stuff. "
Quoted for truth.
MMOGs are the new scamming fad. Just say no to preorders.
No Imperator? WTF!?!?! See how I keep up with shite, lol. One of the few games I may have wanted to play, and poof. . .Warhammer instead, the agressive WoW clone.
Comments
Has anyone posting here played Darkfall or seen an actual playable version? Not video clips and not screen shots as people saw those from the DnL team and all were very misleading and false.
If the folks from Darkfall got a call tomorrow buying them out and the game stopped as is then it would fall under the same title as Dragon Empires and other titles put through development and then canceled. Until such time as it is either released or stopped it is actually nothing.
Face the facts folks, there have been some very nice games started but then never finished. I was in the initial testing for Dragon Empires and saw what happens. Many games just can not live up to either the developers or the customers expectations and is closed down prior to any form of release. Even ones that do release, as in the case of DnL, can be classified as vaporware because the advertising for it was completely different than what people actually got. The money spent on it by investors and pre-orders did nothing to change this and still has not. It is for all intents and purposes vaporware.
He did not do very much research, I give you that, but there are some valid points he does make in his article that is being over looked because people like a certain game and can not see past the end of their own noses.
The online game market takes up about 7% of the total computer game industry. (I could be off but I think this is close to the mark). With that said it becomes a matter of being able to get a game out and get it out well. WoW had backing because of the following, DarkFall does not have close to the community base as far as size goes. Unless it grows or unless Darkfall has some drastic changes and upgrades of existing tools, software, etc then odds are very likely by the past track records of other independent developers that this game goes down prior to launch. This may be harsh but if one views the history of the online game market since say the mid 90's then it only stands to reason.
The above can be said for Hero's Journey, Thrones of Chaos, Fallen Earth, Trials of Ascension and a host of other games.
He did make a point even if he used the wrong examples in a couple of cases. The point should not be wasted because people are in love with something that does not really exist yet.
Nothing against your post.. of course, any mmorpg before release could be vaporware. But that is the point, it could be.
If there are no real facts, or no real hints, it is just a guess and even more slander of the development team and the product.
It is almost the same if i would say WAR is vaporware, because Imperator(Mythic) was vaporware, and because EA has a big histroy for vaporware, so it is just logical that a product form EAMythic have to be vaporware. But nevertheless, it would be just a bad guess and more or less slander of EAMythic, and it is absolutely without any back up.. and because of that it should not be a part of a article of a serios mmorpg information site. And the same is true for more or less the complete article here.
But all this is not really important, but what is about a game like Mount&Blade? Everyone can test and play it now, and even more it is not a mmorpg, it is a solo player game from a independent and small development team and it is fun to play. And it is everything else, but in no way vaporware.
This complete article is more or less a prejudgment of small independent development teams and even more without any facts, without any research and without any back up.
Is Star Trek Online vaporware ?
Is the Firefly MMO vaporware ?
Is Stargate Online vaporware ?
IMO you can only label a game as vaporware if it's been in development with no visible progress for a long period of time. The "no visible progress" condition is particularly important, because as games are becoming more and more complex and players expectations rise, development times increases; and some of the major, AAA, well-funded games ( HL2 anyone ? ) can take more than 4 years of development. Are you going to blame a smaller developer for being slower ?
Games that are in development are not vaporware. They're simply that.. in development.
Infinity: The Quest for Earth, space-sim MMO with a seamless procedural galaxy.
Dan, if you're reading this, stick to your own personal diary and hire a real writer for columns.
Good article, however I would take some time to point out that there should be a difference between companies who simply do not complete projects (Ture Vaporware). And companies who take a good amount of time to complete a polished product.
Just because the idea isn't from the drawing board to the shelves in 2-3 years it doesn't mean it not going to be released!
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
"I would also throw all these "item mall" korean games into the vaporware category. They are very shallow games that just try to scam players into buying stuff. "
MMOGs are the new scamming fad. Just say no to preorders.
Lame. . .
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Bleakmage